Darrell Smith Daniel Hunt
Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.)
(TNS)
A historic Victorian home in Chico that has been a Northern California landmark for more than 150 years has been destroyed by a fire.
Bidwell Mansion caught fire just after 3 a.m. Wednesday, fire officials told Chico-area news outlets. Chico Fire Department Assistant Chief Chris Zinko told KHSL-TV’s Action News Now that flames were reported as an illegal warming fire and that authorities were searching for a person seen leaving the state historic park around the same time.
Fire officials told KRCR-TV it was unclear if the illegal burn started the blaze at the 12,000-square-foot, three-story structure — closed for renovations since spring. That project was set to be completed early next year, according to state park officials.
When firefighters arrived, according to KRCR, five fire engines found flames engulfing the building, which had been surrounded by scaffolding for the repairs.
The renovation included the restoration of “all exterior wood components” including the building’s eaves and second-floor balustrade railings as well as a replacement of the roof and repairs to the home’s distinctive pink plaster siding.
Witnesses said the fire may have completely destroyed the property with the tower collapsing as firefighters worked to quell the blaze.
State officials said that park staff had moved historical objects “out of work zones” during the renovation work, but it was unclear if the artifacts had been stored at another location.
Bidwell Mansion, the centerpiece of the state historic park, had survived more than a century as a memorial to California pioneers John and Annie Bidwell, who donated eight acres of their cherry orchard to a school that would become California State University, Chico. The mansion at 525 Esplanade sits just east of the campus a few blocks from Bidwell Park, the crown jewel of the north state’s regional parks.
John Bidwell had led one of the first wagon trains to California and founded the town, naming streets after trees that spell the town’s name — Chestnut, Hazel, Ivy, Cherry and Orange. He solidified his name as a soldier, farmer, statesman, politician and ultimately a philanthropist. His wealth grew in large measure to the discovery of gold in the Feather River region, enabling him to buy more than 30,000 acres of land by 1850.
The Bidwells’ brick-clad, 26-room home was designed by architect Henry W. Cleaveland and reflected the Italianate estates popular in the mid-1800s. It cost around $60,000 at the time of its completion in 1868. The exterior is finished with pink-tinted plaster.
The home had entertained many socially and politically prominent officials of the day, according to the state parks, including President Rutherford B. Hayes, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Susan B. Anthony, Frances Willard, Gov. Leland Stanford, John Muir and Asa Gray.
This is the second destructive blaze Chico has endured this year with ties to its history after a devastating fire sparked in Upper Bidwell Park and led to the Park Fire, a massive blaze that became the fourth-largest in the state. After sparking from a car that was pushed into ravine in the park July 24, the arson fire burned more than 429,000 acres across Butte and Tehama counties before full containment was reached more than two months later. The blaze leveled more than 700 structures but no injuries were reported.
Ronnie Dean Stout II, who was arrested and charged with starting the blaze after his mother’s car caught fire near Alligator Hole. Prosecutors say Stout, who witnesses said had been acting “strange,” pushed the car down the 60-foot gully, watched the blaze and then ambled away. He was arrested 12 hours later at a mobile home park in Chico and faces trial as early as next month.
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